Cell therapy companies have been rapidly populating over the past few years, making the cell therapy market a high-value, fast-growth market. Key drivers for the market include high rates of cell therapy clinical trials, accelerated pathways for cell therapy product approvals, new technologies to support cell therapy manufacturing, and the potential for cell therapies to revolutionize healthcare.
Cell Therapy Companies and Their Market Growth
In this article:
- Current Market Segments
- CAR-T Cell Therapy Companies
- Cell Therapy Companies
- Global Database of Cell Therapy Companies
Current Market Segments
Market segments that form the cell therapy industry include:
- CAR-T
- CAR-NK
- Other Immunotherapies
- Stem cell therapeutics
- Direct cell reprogramming
- Other cell therapies
CAR-T Cell Therapy Companies
The cell therapy market gained momentum when the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis made history as the first company to win FDA approval for a CAR-T cell therapy in the U.S. in August 2017 (Kymriah). In October 2017, Kite Pharma became the second company to get an FDA approval of a CAR-T cell therapy (Yescarta).
On November 13, 2017, the FDA approved Abilify MyCite as the world’s first “digital pill.” By December 19th, 2017, the FDA approved Spark Therapeutics’ Luxturna, a novel gene therapy to treat patients with an inherited form of vision loss.
The approval of these first two CAR-T cell therapies within the U.S. opened the gates for many other types of cell and gene therapies to claim respect, both from regulators, as well as from the scientific and medical community at large.
Cell Therapy Companies
These historic events demonstrate to investors, the public and funding providers alike that cell therapy is a market that has emerged, no longer one that is evolving in the future. Following IPOs by CAR-T players Kite Pharma, Bellicum, Juno Therapeutics and Cellectis totaling over $750 million, CAR-T developer Autolus recently announced a $150 million IPO. This brings the total value of recent CAR-T IPO’s to nearly $1 billion.
After $20 billion of market capitalization from the CAR-T companies in 2018, the CAR-T market has continued to gain momentum in 2018.
There are also more than 40 companies developing CAR-T therapies and nearly 40 companies developing redirected T cells or NK cells for therapeutic use.
Direct cell reprogramming is also gaining popularity as a novel therapeutic strategy, because of its safety and efficacy advantages. Directly reprogrammed cells are multipotent stem cells that are lineage-restricted to regenerate and grow defined tissues of their specific lineage. They provide “new seeds” that can re-grow the targeted damaged tissue or organ. This unique attribute is sometimes confused with the pluripotent stem cells that do not possess this feature, but instead can differentiate into some unwanted cell types too.
Fortuna Fix is a fascinating company working in the direct cell reprogramming market niche. It is a private, clinical-stage company that aims to be the first to bring to the clinic a patient’s own neural stem cells produced by direct reprogramming (“drNPCs”
Finally, stem cell companies are rapidly populating. Leading stem cell companies include Mesoblast, Athersys, Cynata Therapeutics, Celularity, Pluristem Therapeutics, and many others. A search on ClinicalTrials.gov for stem cell trials also returns over 4,715 results (Search Term: “stem cell” or “stem cells”; Date: 07/25/18). This aggressive clinical trial activities suggests that many stem cell therapeutics are likely to reach the market within the next 5-10 years.
Global Database of Cell Therapy Companies
The cell therapy industry is rapidly expanding, driven by a high volume of clinical trials, accelerated pathways for product approvals, and the potential for regenerative medicine therapies to revolutionize healthcare.
To characterize this rapidly growing industry, BioInformant has released the “Global Regenerative Medicine Industry Database” featuring 650+ cell therapy, gene therapy, tissue engineering, exosome and bioprinting companies that are developing products for therapeutic use in humans.
It was originally developed in-house for our own purposes, but we have had more and more clients requesting access to it.
For a limited-time, you can claim it for only $97 (50% off):
Which cell therapy companies do you follow or operate? Leave your answers in the comments section.
Up Next: Mesoblast & Cartherics to Produce Allogeneic CAR-T Cells from Gene-Edited iPS Cells
